The State government will set up bus shelters at all authorised bus stops.
The shelters, being conceived by the Public Works Department, will have drinking water, telephone, fax, Internet, and postal facilities, and round-the-clock power supply. There will be a 24x7 help desk to handle emergency situations. The bus shelters will be strategically placed with spacious waiting areas and will have minimum interference with pedestrian traffic.
The PWD has set up a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) on the Cochin International Airport Ltd. (CIAL) model to implement the project. “It was a long-felt need. The shelters will reduce the difficulties faced by hundreds who commute daily by buses,” Minister for Public Works V.K. Ebrahim Kunju told The Hindu . A bus shelter network would be developed at all authorised bus stops across the State.
Revenue source
The SPV, Prateeksha Bus Shelters Kerala Ltd (PBSKL), being set up as a public limited company, will be the nodal agency for constructing, developing, maintaining, and operating the bus shelters. The revenue is to be generated from advertisements, retail shops, and other services to be provided at the bus shelter.
The authorised capital of the company is Rs.5 lakh and the paid up share capital is to be released through the Kerala Road Fund Board, another SPV set up under the PWD.
The government has approved the setting up of the SPV as per the Companies Act 1956 and formal orders have been issued. The registered office of the company will be in Thiruvananthapuram.
Besides Mr. Kunju, Secretary, PWD; Principal Secretaries of Finance, LSGD; Economic Advisor to the Chief Minister; and CEO of the KRFB have been nominated as the directors of the company.
The company has been given the powers to develop infrastructure, carry out feasibility study, and plan, design, commission, operate, improve, repair and administer the bus shelter network. It can also enter into contracts and MoUs with foreign companies and other organisations for technical, financial or other assistance. The PBSKL can also enter into pact with any government or State authority, municipal, local or other authority.
